Once Upon a Kingdom
by JM McLand
Summary: There was once a Princess who could not speak of her love. Torn between a prince, knight, and her father Ahiru juggles each one unsure of what the future holds for her. This was the story the writer failed to explain and instead only gave her one line.


**On a happy note, this story has be beta-read by the AWESOME WONDERFUL Falling petals! OMG I love her, and how she help me better this chapter even more. **

**Go visit her page, review her stuff, and encourage her to write. She is fantastic and I'm so happy she is my editor for this. **. /u/1533450/falling_petals

On a second note, I am having help with writing this too, She is awesome funny and witty, and once I get a link to link for you, visit out her stuff too! She gave me so much encouragement to pick this up again, and I wouldn't be writing it without her.

So without any more stalling here is the final revised copy of chapter one

**Once Upon a Kingdom….**

There were once two kingdoms in a world very unlike our definition of normal. This is a world where animals have minds, souls, and the ability to talk like humans, even. The power to take a human form. These animals were citizens of a great kingdom ruled by beautiful swans.

The Queen and King Swan had a beautiful daughter. Her feathers were as white as fresh snow and as soft as silk. Within her human form she was the most graceful in all the kingdom; hair just as white and soft as her feathers and skin so fair and pale.

All loved and envied her beauty, but there was only one who loved her most―the Black Raven. From afar he watched her dance and before long became her partner. They moved as one, and as the time passed he captured her heart and she did his. When the Swan's parent's left the kingdom in her hands, Raven took her as his wife. Together they ruled the kingdom and it was truly a wonderful time.

Across the waters in the kingdom of humans, the queen and king also bore a child, a son. However, that fact isn't important for our story, now isdoes it? This story is about the Raven who was declared the villain, the princess who could never admit her love, and the knight torn between duty and affection. The reason why the Raven attacked, the knight sliced in two, and the prince left the pages of the story. This is about the girl who was a duck during the day and a swan at night, who only had one line in the story but was the cause of it all.

In time, the Raven King and Swan Queen were graced with a beautiful daughter. The young swan had her mother's looks and grace, but also her father's cunning mind. She was quick to think on her feet, and a master of the form of dance only known to the animal kingdom. The plants and other creatures fell in love with her just as they did with her mother.

Yet there was a dark cloud that hung and choked the girl's heart. There were many who opposed the union of a raven and a swan, for a reason. The fruits of their unnatural union was a curse placed upon the child: if she confesses her love for anyone, she would turn into a speck of light. This was her bane and burden to bear.

Five years after the swan child's birth, her mother fell ill and passed away. The Raven King and the Swan Princess dealt with the grief in different ways. The king became more attached to his only child. He would beg her to dance for him and only him, night after night. Long days were spent in his study and longing eyes stared at the picture of his beloved daughter.

The princess grieved in her own way. During the day while her father locked himself away, Swan would travel to the human kingdom where none knew her face. There she called herself Duck and assumed the role of a lowly peasant girl. This was her escape.

From every sunrise to set she was a duck, but at dusk she donned the feathers of the beautiful Swan Princess.

End Prologue

**Chapter One:** Asleep Within the Egg

A small figure dashed in and out of the mass of people that lined the street. Dressed in a ratty cloak and cloths of a peasant, the girl stood on her tip toes to try and catch a peek of the parade marching down the street. With a grunt of frustration, Duck, who called herself Ahiru, glared at the tall man in front of her. She Words couldn't describe how she longed to see the prince in all his glory. He was her only love, the forbidden fruit, the beautiful gem just out of reach, and whenever she could Ahiru would try to sneak a peek.

Often she would tell herself that she fell in love with his eyes. The golden honey color that matched his snow white hair seemed to mesmerize her.

''He should have been born a swan,' thought Ahiru longingly, whenever she glimpsed at his eyes. 'He would make a beautiful swan prince.''

"There! There' is the prince!"  
"Oh look, his knight is with him too!"  
"Oh they are _so_ dreamy!"  
"And I heard the prince is looking for a wife!"

Behind Ahiru were a group of young noble girls. They gushed and swooned for the prince she loved, but Ahiru was more interested in the bit of news she overheard. She wasn't sure how to take it but anger and a bit ofmaybe hurt swelled up in her chest. The prince was looking for a princess. Could she be his princess? No… impossible.

"They are thinking of marrying him off to that horrible Raven's child. Heard she is just as repulsive and disgusting as he is."

For a moment Ahiru felt flush with anger., 'Who do they think they are! Miserable humans!'

This time the anger clawed painfully in her chest. Even if the rumors were true, even if her father had fallen ill with madness, it didn't make him a bad person right? It wasn't his fault that he was still grieving for her mother and that their kingdom was starting to unravel… It wasn't.

'"THE PRINCE!"

All negative thoughts and uncertainty vanished as her gaze fell onto his regal form. In truth, as soon as she glimpsed his eyes, love blossomed in her chest like a flower and everything else fell away. It was because of this that Ahiru took whatever chances she could to see the heroic prince. Yes, it was his eyes, Ahiru assured herself. That was his best trait along with that kind smile. Mythos would make a great king, kind and gentle one, and if they… if the Prince and the Swan Princess would wed, maybe things would become better.

Of course he would never notice her, a pauper in the streets, staring after him with only love in her heart.

And she could never speak those words of love.

Her father told her of the curse, just once. She could never declare her affections no matter how pleading her lover was, and she could never explain the reasons why. He made her promise never to speak those words, never to leave him like her mother did. Thus her dancing became the only way she could show her father that she loved him dearly still.

A shiver ran down her spine. Ahiru reluctantly tore her gaze from the prince's retreating figure to search the throngs of townsfolk around her and the parade of merrymakers tramping down the streets. Like magnet her vision was pulled to and met the cold eyes of a knight.

'What is wrong with him?' On reflex she took a step back, then another, and another. Before anything could register in her duck- like mind, the peasant who was really a swan turned and shoved her way through the noisy crowd, running as fast and far as possible from the joyful procession.

With lungs gasping and heart pounding, Ahiru finally paused and leaned her forehead against the brick and stone wall that protected the city from the demons of the night, encircling the outskirts of the human kingdom..

"What is wrong with me?." She muttered in distaste. Why did she get so worked up over that moment of eye contact? Did the knight truly scare her that much? What was it about him that made her heart pound and mind fog? Exhaustion and confusion held Ahiru captive at her place by the wall, although the sun had started to drop and her father was waiting in their castle across the waters.

"Care to tell me why you were in such a hurry" The chilled voice sent a rushing chill down her spine like a winter's breeze through her outstretched feathered wings.

Gulp. Trouble with a capital T.

"N-n-nothing!" A spin and twist of the foot Ahiru turned to face Fakir, the prince's personal bodyguard. The two stood still both waiting for the other to make the first move.

'What am I going to do? Where to run…where to run?'

"You aren't human are you?" His deep voice chipped further at her resolve.

"O-of course I am!" Ahiru retorted back with a stomp of the foot. With eyebrows furrowed together the girl managed a glare, albeit one that wasn't the least bit intimidating to the weathered knight.

Fakir's eyes just rolled down her small frame to her feet. Unfortunately, unlike the royal humans in the capital city her legs were still faintly birdlike even in human form. It had been difficult for Ahiru to match the flow and rhythm of the people during her early escapades to the human kingdom. She soon realized that the animal citizens of her own kingdom were different than humans with their two legs and how they walked. Some seem to carry their weight in a waddle, while others walked as straight as a board, but none had the fluid, natural movement of true humans.

Most animals were only graceful when they danced. It was a way of storytelling, to express deep emotions that could never be conveyed throughby words. The dance was a secret only those under the Raven's control learned.

The knight was thinking about something, and unsure Ahiru watched him closely. In a moment, with one skillful motion, his sword was drawn and pointed at the orange-haired girl in front of him.

"What is one of your kind doing here spying on the prince?" Cold and detached, he stared down the possible enemy.

"Q-quack! I-I-I wasn't spying! H-hey don't point that thing at me you, you!" Ahiru stared down the steel tip of the sword to the hand, arm, shoulder, chin, mouth, nose, and then finally eyes. A strong, intense emotion gripped at her heart, its claws tightening with each prolonged second. She attempted a step back but her right foot bent awkwardly and she collapsed. On the ground and sore, she glazed up fearfully at the knight.

'Everything is happening so fast… I-is he going to kill me?"

"What am I thinking… You're no spy, just another idiotic girl,." he sneered out with some satisfaction. But the sword did not withdraw from its position; a curious look ran across his face. "You know how to dance the ballet correct?"

"I… sort of… well… yes…but I…."

"Well what is it?"

"Yes! But I am not very good."

Fakir stared down heavily at the duck-girl for a moment. "I have been looking for someone like you. I want you to teach me."

"QUACK?"

"Teach me, or I will take your life right where you stand for plotting against the prince." A slight smiled tugged at the knight's lips.

'H-how dare he! If only he knew who I was! If my father found out…! Wait… he can't know…' Ahiru twisted her fingers nervously in her lap. This was a very, very big problem. No one, especially a Humans, was allowed to dance the ballet without permission. Yet did she have a choice?

"W-why do you want to know how to dance like that? I heard human's have other nice dances… very pretty dances…." Eyes still locked in a vicious battle of dominance, the duck attempted to persuade the knight. If she could do that then maybe…

"I have my reasons." Just as skillfully as he had drawn the sword, the knight replaced it and it hung seemingly harmless at his side. Ahiru wondered how much blood that blade hadas seen and how many it had killed. "Meet me by the Old Woman's Pond at dawn."

"Wait! Why me?" She winced as she stood, yet she couldn't remove her eyes from the solitary knight before her.

"You were the first one I noticed." As if that explained it all, he made a typical stage right exit, strolling into the shadows cast by the buildings with the wind whistling at his heels.

"What a jerk!" Ahiru vented the moment Fakir was out of ear shot. "Who does he think he is? Ordering me around like that! I have my reasons, he says! Well I spit on your reasons whoever you are, knight!" A pause. "Oh no I am going to be late! QUACK!"

AN:

again go to Falling's page and review and tell her to write more. She is fantastic, awesome, and uber sweet for working as a free editor Heart heart heart heart!

Chapter two is about 90% complete. It should be up in a couple of weeks once I let falling go at it with her amazing red pen of awesome.

its also hard to believe this is 9 pages _ Thank you for reading and please R/R and let me know your thoughts.

As to questions asked before and now

Rue will not be in this story.(or if she is, at the very, very, VERY end) In my mind, Rue was the only one not placed in The Prince and the Raven. In truth she is a 'fake' princess much like the black swan was in Swan Lake. She is also one of the unpredictable elements that changed the story towards the happy ending. In a sense she did save everyone from the never ending loop of the story. I promise a more detailed explanation will come at the end and how this ties into the cannon story. I have it all mapped out, I just need to sit and write it hahah.


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